TENS WILD was in a position to win late in the race but was overcome late by Ballyjamesduff. The extra distance seemed to suit the winner just fine. Though, to be fair, TENS was well clear of the third place horse so I don’t think we were out of our element at a mile and a sixteenth, but the winner got the trip he needed.

While I didn’t think that the pace was blistering up front, it certainly was solid with the leaders going :24.04 for the quarter and just a shade under :48 for the half. We got first jump on the top flight but Ballyjamesduff had too much rally in him and we had to settle for second.

I did think that he looked a little uncomfortable down the backside – moving up and sliding back, moving up and sliding back – which may have taken something out of him, but kudos to the winner, he beat us fair and square by a solid 2 1/4.

We’ll rest up and come right back at them again – probably at a lower level. I really thought we were gone here so now we’ll have to take less than fair value for him but could be that folks knew that as well and are just waiting for the plunge. Hopefully we can make up for that with another win.